Nantuckat SSA Governor Approaches Beacon Hill on Boat Line Break-Up

A gulf of tension between the two Islands over Steamship Authority
issues grew noticeably wider this week, when news surfaced that
Nantucket Steamship Authority governor Grace Grossman has privately
approached state officials about the possibility of splitting the boat
line into two separate entities.

It is understood that in recent weeks and months Mrs. Grossman has
met with high-ranking state officials both in Boston and on Nantucket to
discuss SSA affairs in general and the possible breakup of the boat line
in particular.

These meetings took place without the knowledge of the four other
members of the boat line board of governors.

Reached at her office on Nantucket yesterday, Mrs. Grossman would
not comment.

But it is understood that Mrs. Grossman has, among other things, met
with Transportation Secretary Daniel A. Grabauskas, Senate President
Robert E. Travaglini, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Sen. Therese
Murray, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

It is understood that Mrs. Grossman met with the secretary of
transportation while he was visiting Nantucket, and that she traveled to
Boston to meet with the other high-ranking legislators.

Mrs. Grossman, who was unanimously appointed to a third term by the
Nantucket selectmen last week, is wildly popular on Nantucket, where she
has virtually unanimous support among the island people. An active
Democrat, she also has powerful political connections on Beacon Hill.

Any plan to break apart the state-chartered boat line is a potential
political powder keg.

The Steamship Authority board of governors has struggled to get its
legs in the aftermath of a powerful political play by the city of New
Bedford two years ago to force the boat line to reopen ferry service
between the Whaling City and the Vineyard.

New legislation was adopted a year and half ago expanding the board
from three to five members by adding voting members from Barnstable and
New Bedford.

The two Islands retained control of the board through a weighted
vote. But in the last year fault lines have threatened to undermine the
traditional bedrock of unity between the Vineyard and Nantucket.

Increasingly Mrs. Grossman and Vineyard boat line governor Kathryn
A. Roessel have found themselves on opposite sides of an array of
issues. Tension between Mrs. Grossman and senior managers at the SSA
have added to the problem.

The result has been increasing isolation for Nantucket.

It all reached a peak at the November boat line meeting which was
held on Nantucket.

At that meeting a crowd of 100 Nantucket residents - including
leaders from every business association on the island - turned
out to protest an advertising initiative with J. Crew that had been
launched by SSA senior managers for the popular Christmas Stroll
weekend. No one on Nantucket had been consulted about the plan to hand
out J. Crew catalogues at the Stroll - and Nantucketers were up in
arms.

But the protest fell on deaf ears, and when Mrs. Grossman made a
motion to jettison the plan, she could not even muster a second from her
fellow board members for the sake of discussion.

It turned out the J. Crew plan was abandoned, but the damage was
done, and two months later Nantucket residents and elected officials are
still smarting. The explosive meeting has been played and replayed on
local cable television stations on both Islands in recent weeks.

"Until a few years ago we were family - disagreeing at
times, but respecting one another. But times and representatives have
changed and it's not like that anymore," Mrs. Grossman said
in a woman-in-the-news interview with the Gazette last week.

"The mission is to take care of the Islands. But I think the
mission and the vision have been abandoned," the Nantucket
governor said in another interview last summer.

She was not alone in that view.

"I think we are just kind of being ignored," said Flint
Ranney, the Nantucket member of the port council, at the time.

It is now understood that the November SSA meeting was the straw
that broke the camel's back and led directly to this new private
move to explore the possibility of breaking the SSA in two.

The 43-year-old boat line is chartered to provide dependable
year-round ferry service to the two Islands.

It is understood that Mrs. Grossman's conversations with state
officials included blunt remarks about the treatment of Nantucket, both
by management and by other board members. It is also understood that
Mrs. Grossman has spoken to state officials about spiraling costs and
exorbitant fares on the Nantucket run.

There is currently no legislation pending on Steamship Authority
affairs, and it is unclear whether any proposal to split the boat line
into two entities could gain momentum on Beacon Hill.

The New Bedford-sponsored legislation that finally culminated with
new enabling legislation a year and a half ago was divisive and occupied
the attention of state lawmakers for many months.

News of Mrs. Grossman's activity behind the scenes and private
meetings on Beacon Hill first surfaced in a story in the Martha's
Vineyard Times yesterday.

The subject did not come up during the monthly boat line meeting,
held in Vineyard Haven yesterday morning.

Mrs. Grossman did not attend the meeting because of the winter
weather.